It was a much, much sunnier day than it had been on Saturday, with little chance of rain. I was now completely mentally (although still not physically) prepared for the westerly wind.
I rode east first, back to Range Road 232 (and leaned my bike against the very same reflector pole I had yesterday).
Then I did the tough, into-the-wind ride west to Red Deer.
I crossed the Red Deer River valley, which actually involved some pretty good climbing by prairie standards. Also, a beautiful river:
Across the river I was now in Red Deer County, the fourth county I have cycled in this weekend--Painted Earth, Stettler, Lacombe, and now Red Deer.
Eventually I reached the top of the "mountain" (I think it is about 150 m above Red Deer's elevation) and could see down to Red Deer and really quite away (the photo just barely gives you a sense for the long distance view).
I made fairly quick time coming down the hill and into the city and across the Red Deer River again (it loops around) to the Wal-Mart where I had cycled from in May 2017. I stopped in the Wal-Mart to eat lunch at McDonald's, then got back on the bike to head east to the car.
This is where the day took a very interesting and unexpected turn. I was across the river and up the hill in east Red Deer, at a red stop light just somewhat behind and beside a pick-up truck. The light was taking a long time to change, so I began drifting towards the sidewalk to hit the pedestrian crossing button hoping to trigger the light change.
I heard a yell of "No!" and turned to see a German shepherd jumping out the open window of the extended cab, and straight onto my left rear saddle bag. He held on to it pretty good for a second or so, then moved in on my left calf. I managed to get my front wheel around enough to hit him with it, and he let go and jumped onto the sidewalk. Quickly I had my bike out from under me and between my body and the dog's, but by now a young guy was out of the truck and grabbing the dog's leash.
I looked down to see the damage. Two red spots were growing through my white leggings, evidently where the dog's fangs had broken skin. I took off the sleeve from my right arm and tied it around, hoping to at least slow the bleeding.
I was in total shock. Nothing hurt, but it was taking me awhile to process what had actually happened!
The young guy's first words were "can I give you some money for those pants"? Which to me suggested he was pretty shocked as well.
I actually do not even remember much of the conversation, but eventually I said something like, "that can never happen again," and he was on his way. I took another minute to collect myself and remounted my bike.
I had another 20 km to go, which I did as quickly as I could. The bite was beginning to hurt intermittently, but quite badly when it did. The bleeding was not serious, but I was not sure what it would look like when I took the leggings off.
I finished around 16:00.
After packing up the car I headed north, past Joffre, towards Ponoka. I was thinking at first I would go to a hospital in Edmonton, but the pain was increasing and I decided I would stop in Ponoka instead.
I think this was a good choice, because the emergency room was nearly empty, and I was quickly in to see the doctor. Together we stripped my leg, and it seemed much worse than I had expected. There were two sizable gouges where the fangs had gone in, one of which was probably an inch and a half long. There were much smaller marks where other teeth had bitten in, although these were relatively minor.
The doctor told me he would need to stitch up the two fang cuts, so he got me on a table, splashed some type of disinfectant in (which certainly brought the bleeding back!), and then stuck me with needles (for tetanus in the shoulder and freezing in the leg). By 17:30 I had six stitches and was on my way back to Edmonton.
Once the freezing wore off my leg was really hurting, but as my girlfriend says, at least I had a good story to tell!
So, with this trip complete, I have now cycled this route across Alberta:
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